The town is divided in two by the dry river of Saguia el Hamra. On the south side is the old lower town, constructed by Spanish colonists. A cathedral from that era is still active; its priests serve this city and at Dakhla further south.

Since 1976 the city has been occupied and administered by Morocco,[2] which claims Western Sahara as a part of its territory. The Polisario Front, supported in part by Algeria, has been working for Western Sahara sovereignty as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and it considers the city its occupied capital.

The city has a population of 196,331[3] and is the largest city in Western Sahara. It is a growing economic hub. Its population is a mixture of Sahrawis, natives of Western Sahara who now make up only a fifth of the population, with much of the remainder being Moroccans from the North attracted by subsidies and government jobs.[4]

Since the city has been administered by Morocco, it has become a hub for fishing and for phosphate mining in the region.[4] In 2010 that country was negotiating a new fishing agreement with Europe over offshore fishing. Morocco has invested in the city and area to gain support from natives.[4]

Politically Morocco claims the Western Sahara as part of its historical territory. Mauritania had also claimed it, but Morocco has long had effective control. The Polisario Front, an independence group supported by Algeria, has contested with Moroccan military forces and promotes sovereignty of the area as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. In 1991 the UN achieved a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front after 16 years of warfare. Riots from independence supporters in the city broke out in 1999 and 2005.[4]

This territory has unresolved sovereignty pending a solution between the two parties that claim it: Morocco and Polisario. The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which monitors the 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, is headquartered in the city. In 2010 the UN was trying to arrange talks between Morocco and Polisario to negotiate some autonomy for the region; Algeria and Mauritania agreed to be there as official observers.[4]